big bang

So yesterday, I had a fantastic day with Mon, Lot (his sister) and Faye. We initially intended to go to Music Bank in Diosdado Macapagal Avenue at around 2:00 PM, but remembered that it will not open until 3:00 PM. We then ate first in Sol Restaurant, few meters away from Music Bank, as we will definitely have a hard time eating a proper meal during the concert. There were few people in the restaurant and all of them were Koreans having, presumably, their late lunch.

So at around 3:30 PM, we finally went inside Music Bank and started singing our hearts out. We had a little hard time looking for some of the KPop songs we would like to sing, but we got there in the end. We spent around two hours, while we were slowly frozen to death by the airconditioning. By the time we got out, I have already developed a runny nose; though I didn’t know if that was because of the room’s temperature or Faye’s virus finally contaminating me (she was not feeling well since Monday). LOL

We didn’t actually know if it was a good idea to go to a noraebang before going to a concert, because we would most likely be losing our voice. But we still have a couple of hours to compose ourselves before the mayhem in The Arena. When we got in the Mall of Asia, we saw this crowd at the back of the venue:

We were to enter in the Coral (Blue) Entrance and there were already a lot of people queuing for the mandatory bag inspection. We did not immediately fall in line because I wanted to make sure that I can sneak my point-and-shoot camera inside. I just observed how the inspection was done and I saw a couple of DSLRs and even point-and-shoots were confiscated by the guards on duty. So I just shoved it deep inside the side pocket of my bag, covered in unused tissue and with my iPod on the top so the guards would immediately see I had nothing to hide. Well it worked but we did not take pictures until we were finally seated in our respective seats.

We were seated in Section 401, which was directly in front of the stage. One of our tickets was in Section 404, but as the person who was to sit next to us did not arrive (or the people, because seat numbers four to seven were vacant), there was no need to push through with our original plan of snatching that one seat.

(We haven’t seen any light stick similar to Faye’s <3 We bought this from the souvenir shop in Doota Mall last year)

And then the concert started! After the curtains fell, the boys were revealed to be inside these illuminated tubes, as if teleported from somewhere.

I did my best with what my camera can do and I noticed that it was far easier and better to take videos, as my hands were not that stable to take photos in low lighting. I managed to take several videos, but bothered only in resizing three of them. I also have uploaded the first one in my previous post. And also, I was not screaming like a banshee in these videos (unlike the 2NE1 videos I took, where I was screaming Bom’s name like it will lead me to salvation). (*Note: Change the quality to “480p” ([in the gear icon above] to view the best quality)

Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila – Fantastic Baby

Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila – Haru Haru

Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 Manila – Lies

If I have to be perfectly honest with the whole experience, I sat during most of the middle of the concert because: a) I did not know the songs they were singing, and b) I was really too low-energy (a.k.a. old) to match the energy of the people around me. However, the line-up of the songs was perfectly-made that I cannot NOT stand up and sing along with the songs I knew and loved (e.g. the songs I recorded above). LOL My mental discography was very archaic and I was stuck in Big Bang circa 2008-2009.

At Php 3,900, we got our money’s worth. =D Compared to the three-thousand plus we shelled out in that joke/milk-the-opportunity strategy called “The Party” last year, Big Bang’s first concert here in Manila was very good, production-wise. Although it was apparent that most of the boys gave a very vocally lackluster performance (Tae Yang’s voice was cracking, and as how Sharon Needles put it, he was Christina-ing it out a lot; and GD seemed to have quite a lower energy). Daesung was the most consistent among the boys and I have new respect for him because of that. There were also a lot of Roselle-Nava-sing-with-me moments, which I didn’t like. =/

Another theory given by our friend China (who had to brave the fiasco at the topmost seats, along with two other people), was that GD sensed the overwhelming bias of the crowd towards T.O.P. and he was already resigned over that fact. LOL I didn’t even know how factual that theory was but I think that he still gave a decent job, albeit the low energy. Also, we were wondering why he did not perform his latest single, Crayon (whose video shown before the concert even started has sent the crowd to a shrieking frenzy). But I was extremely envious of his Givenchy Rotweiler shirt. Ugh. LOL

Naturally, we were hungry after the event but as almost all the establishments were closed by 10:30 PM (the show ran few minutes over two hours), we did not even bother eating a snack. We actually had the choice of going to McDonald’s but it was jam-packed, so we decided to just part ways. The rain also did not help. I forgot to bring an umbrella and I just had a gray cardigan inside. As I was more worried of the vachetta parts onn my backpack, more than myself getting wet, I just buttoned it around my bag, liek a new-born baby. I didn’t want any watermarks to ruin the leather. LOL

We’ve heard that SNSD (or some other group from SM Entertainment) will be going to Manila next year. Lot is one BIG SNSD FAN and she will most likely watch their concert, if ever they would organize one. But as the light sticks are probably insanely marked up here, we will be just buying some in Seoul this December when we go back. I might even buy a few more just to sell when that happy day comes. LOL

So tired but happy! I just want to share this video I took from the Upper Box (Section 401) when Big Bang performed ‘Fantastic Baby’! I knew I had to take a video of this performance because my nephew loves this song so much! He even reminded me about it when he was about to leave for school. LOL

I still have to edit the pictures I took earlier! Time to hit the sack! (And yeah, I created a YouTube account just to upload that video LOL)

Forgive me for the upper case letters in the title but I’m just extremely looking forward to Big Bang‘s concert here in Manila next week! We got our tickets when they were first released in July and it was Mon who fell in line for them. There will be four of us watching: Mon and I, Lot (Mon’s sister) and Faye. And as the concert will be held at exactly 8:00 PM, we have no choice but to file a day of vacation leave just for it.

I’m not gonna lie: the tickets cost a lot! We only availed the Upper Box seats, and at Php 3,700 (plus the Php 200 SM ticketing charge), we are desperately hoping that the show will be worth it! The better seat at Lower Box B cost Php 3,170 more than our tickets but given the bizarre seat configuration in SM MOA Arena, I think the prices were quite justified. The first and last time I have entered the venue was last month’s UAAP Cheerdance Competition. We were seated at the Lower Box B, enough to gauge that the viewing experience at the Upper Box MIGHT be tantamount to peeking at the bottom of a ravine. LOL

Anyway, what I’m most excited about is the crowd. This concert will only be the 4th K-Pop-related event I’m going to witness. The first one was 4Minute‘s mall tour in SM North way back in 2009 (with Faye), the second was Super Junior’s concert in 2010 (with Mon and Gina), and the third one was 2NE1 in Araneta from last year (with a lot of my officemates). Aside from the idols, the people watching are always a nice spectacle to see, especially on what they will be wearing. As young and easily impressionable some of the fans are, you have to admire the guts of some who wear the most outrageous outfits in these events. One time, I saw a guy, about thirteen years old, wearing a bubble vest with a (faux?) fur hood! Mind you, this was in the middle of April, when summer was officially ablaze in Manila! Provided that next Wednesday will be the concert of South Korea’s most stylish boyband (and yes, I confer that title to them as G-Dragon can single-handedly live up to that), I expect crazier outfits from the fans. I just hope that cameras won’t be banned or else I would have to find a way to sneak one in.

One more week to go and I must try to memorize some lyrics. When all else fails, I’d just mouth ‘watermelon’ and the known-English words in their songs. LOL

When we were in Seoul last September, Mon and I made it a point to visit the headquarters of YG, JYP and SM on our third day. Of course, taking a leaf from the books of those who have done it had greatly helped, but the YG Entertainment one was the trickiest.

We found some directions posted online to be quite simplistic and sparse of details. I even had my Kindle open the whole time, still looking for directions but we still got a bit lost. So, I might as well put every observation and other questions we have also asked ourselves while looking for YG’s peculiar building that might help other fangirls and fanboys. =D